1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fields of computer communications and computer networking.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention describes a means of coordinating a set of nodes referred to alternatively herein as a collection of computers, as a set of member computers, or as a plurality of computers physically connected to a network. The invention allows rapid broadcast and search of the hosts using distributed control.
Such a system is an improvement over existing centrally controlled coordination in the areas of security, attack resistance, robustness, speed, and scalability.
Physical vs. Logical Organization
The invention may be used by any computer possessing a means to communicate one to another with all other computers to be coordinated.
The invention works by arranging the physically connected computers into a virtual hierarchy that may be efficiently searched and to which messages may be broadcast.